Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — A Magnetic Island. [ARTICLE]

A Magnetic Island.

Everybody has read stories of mysterious islands exercising an irresistit)le attraction on ships passing near them. These, of course, are pure intentions; but there is an islnnd named Bornholm in the Baltic sea near the coast of Denmark whose rocks, according to a Vienna journal, Der Stein der Welsen, are so strongly magnetic that they nffeet the compasses of passing ships, even as far as nine miles away. In this manner Bornholm may be said to turn vessels out of (heir course, since an error of the compass needle may cause a corresponding error in the steering of n ship.